Americas' SAP Users' Group to Host mySAP™ ERP Upgrade Symposium

Business Wire, Oct 11, 2006

User Group Event To Shed Light on SAP's Recently Enhanced Platform Strategy and Offer Best Practices for Upgrading to an Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture

CHICAGO -- The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG), the world's largest customer-run community of SAP professionals, is hosting its Fall mySAP(TM) ERP Upgrade Symposium November 6-7 at the Omni Hotel CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition to customer-driven education, the Symposium offers companies the opportunity to hear directly from SAP how their new platform strategy can help IT departments quickly adopt the latest technology while maintaining stability in their core systems.

Stefan Kneis, executive liaison for SAP Americas, will kick off the ERP Upgrade Symposium with a look at how SAP is delivering on its commitment to help customers experience the business value of enterprise service-oriented architecture (Enterprise SOA). Building upon last month's announcement that mySAP(TM) ERP 2005 will be the "go to" release for all SAP R/3 customers through 2010, Mr. Kneis will present SAP's enhanced product roadmap for mySAP(TM) ERP and address how the new platform will eliminate the need for customers to continually upgrade their systems to take advantage of the latest technology and business process innovations from SAP.

"SAP's new platform strategy provides customers with a great opportunity to embrace enterprise services," said Rodney Masney, ASUG President, "and we're very excited to be able to offer this event so close on the heels of the recent SAP platform announcement. Whether a company is already in the process of upgrading to the enterprise SOA platform, or looking for assistance in building the business justification to do so, they will be able to walk away from the ERP Upgrade Symposium with tools and guidance on how to best manage the transformation to a service-oriented architecture."

In addition to the update from SAP, Scott Petrak, Program Director-North America ERP Upgrades for Bayer Corporation's North American IT department, will also keynote the event. In his presentation entitled, "The Users Speak - A Real Life Customer Experience Upgrading to mySAP ERP," Mr. Petrak will share upgrade insights along with innovative solutions for mitigating risk and controlling the costs associated with making the move to the new platform.

"When you consider the growing infrastructure complexity faced by most organizations, it doesn't take long to realize the value of a stable, predictable foundation upon which to build your business for the long-term." said Peter Graf, Executive Vice President, Product and Technology Group, SAP. "Innovation without disruption. That's the long-term promise customers can count on from upgrading to mySAP(TM) ERP 2005. The ASUG mySAP(TM) ERP Upgrade Symposium will provide insights into exactly how customers can realize maximum value from their upgrades for the next half-decade and beyond."

In addition to product presentations from SAP America and SAP Labs, leading customer companies will share upgrade best practices, insights on managing security considerations, tips on reducing cutover times, and suggestions for planning for the technical aspects of going live. This year's line up includes speakers from CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd, DuPont Company, EDS, Kao Brands, SaskPower, and The University of Mississippi.

For complete conference information and to register, visit w3.asug.com/pr/upgrades/register. ASUG members and all licensed SAP customers and partners are encouraged to attend.

About ASUG

The Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG(R)) is an independent, volunteer-run organization that facilitates knowledge transfer among the community of SAP customers by providing user-driven educational opportunities, professional networking and a forum that provides insight and influence to SAP. ASUG maintains a unique position within the SAP community through its: combination of highly-focused education tools; access to subject matter experts and SAP executives; ability to influence SAP products and services; and personal networking opportunities with SAP customers. As a result, members from any sized organization continuously solve their SAP-related business problems more efficiently and cost-effectively, realizing a significant return from their membership. (Additional information at http://www.asug.com